To say the relationship between BlackBerry and T-Mobile has been strained lately is a bit of an understatement, but the latest news coming from Waterloo is something I'm sure we can all agree is a bit unexpected. BlackBerry has now announced that as of April 25th, 2014, it will not renew the T-Mobile U.S., Inc. license to sell BlackBerry products.

BlackBerry has had a positive relationship with T-Mobile for many years. Regretfully, at this time, our strategies are not complementary and we must act in the best interest of our BlackBerry customers. We hope to work with T-Mobile again in the future when our business strategies are aligned," said BlackBerry CEO and Executive Chair, John Chen. "We are deeply grateful to our loyal BlackBerry customers and will do everything in our power to provide continued support with your existing carrier or ensure a smooth transition to our other carrier partners.

As for support of BlackBerry devices for current T-Mobile customers, BlackBerry will work closely with T-Mobile to provide the best possible customer service to any customer remaining on the T-Mobile U.S. network or to any customer purchasing devices from T-Mobile's existing inventory.

Press Release

BlackBerry Ends T-Mobile U.S. Licensing Agreement

WATERLOO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - April 1, 2014) - BlackBerry(R) Limited (NASDAQ:BBRY)(TSX:BB), a world leader in mobile communications, today announced that it will not renew the T-Mobile U.S., Inc. license to sell BlackBerry products when it expires on April 25, 2014.

BlackBerry customers on the T-Mobile network should not see any difference in their service or support. BlackBerry will work closely with T-Mobile to provide the best possible customer service to any customer remaining on the T-Mobile U.S. network or to any customer purchasing devices from T-Mobile's existing inventory.

BlackBerry is also working closely with other carrier partners to provide consumers and business users with alternatives should they decide to transition to another carrier and remain with BlackBerry for their long-term device and service needs. For additional details, offers and assistance, business customers and consumers can go to http://us.blackberry.com/smartphones.html.

"BlackBerry has had a positive relationship with T-Mobile for many years. Regretfully, at this time, our strategies are not complementary and we must act in the best interest of our BlackBerry customers. We hope to work with T-Mobile again in the future when our business strategies are aligned," said BlackBerry CEO and Executive Chair, John Chen. "We are deeply grateful to our loyal BlackBerry customers and will do everything in our power to provide continued support with your existing carrier or ensure a smooth transition to our other carrier partners.

About BlackBerry

A global leader in mobile communications, BlackBerry(R) revolutionized the mobile industry when it was introduced in 1999. Today, BlackBerry aims to inspire the success of our millions of customers around the world by continuously pushing the boundaries of mobile experiences. Founded in 1984 and based in Waterloo, Ontario, BlackBerry operates offices in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America. The company trades under the ticker symbols "BB" on the Toronto Stock Exchange and "BBRY" on the NASDAQ. For more information, visit www.BlackBerry.com.

T mobile is like Wind Mobile in Canada. Farrr behind the bigger three and really only caters to the lowest end of the market. Businesses typically don't deal with the budget brands because service quality is very valuable

BlackBerry is focused on enterprise and high end con/prosumers. T mobile provides neither off these markets

I find your "lowest end of the market" comment both inaccurate and offensive. Sprint's network is garbage, Verizon's customer service is garbage, and AT&T has zero signal where I work. How does that make me part of the "lowest end"? Arrogance is a disease that only thinking can cure.

I think he's talking about the fact that t-mobile is 4th out of the 4 major US carriers. And honestly ppl flock from my job to the t-mobile store for their "non contact" plans. They do have a lot more customers but I guarantee that a year from now they will be trying to merge again

Don't worry my friend "lowest end of the market" comment is both invalid and arrogant. 1. Tmobile has deployed its 4G LTE efficiently and its by far faster than AT&T and Verizon. 2. UNLIMITED DATA (the kind that actually works *cough*sprint*cough* 3. Even when i don't have LTE i.e Des Moines, Iowa.. the 4G i do get is still about 22 mbps which is more than enough. 4. starting later this year they will convert the majority of their 2g towers to 4G LTE( the remaining 2g towers will be left up for older phones and M2M devices) .. by the middle of 2015 it should be finished.

Talk your dislike-fulness(made up word but who cares) because of their relationship with BB, but don't start bashing their service.. thats why BB is where its at right now.. because of false word of mouth..

I'll have to dig up some stuff I read a while back, but apparently TMO's business customer base size was the drizzling shits. This was before Legere and I think before LTE, though, so it may have changed.

This says a lot about how bad their relationship was. I am guessing the same will happen with at&t when their contract also expires. If they are not getting support from US carriers then Why would they renew and support them with selling contracts? I think it's a wise move and makes a statement about blackberry standing their own ground.

If it was Apple then you could say they kicked T MO in the balls, but discontinuing a contract with BB which would not. Lets be honest. BB is not selling enough phones to hurt T MO in any way, shape or form. The kick in the Balls was really to BB when T MO offered money to trade in the BB devices.

Terrible move for Blackberry. T-Mobile might have been late to the game with updates now they won't ever get an update or what?
How would those Blackberry customers on T-Mobile get wifi calling?
Will Blackberry ends up sending them the updates directly?
What will enterprise customers do that are with t-mobile since t-Mobile does have a big enterprise branch? Enterprise customers will drop Blackberry before their carrier and consumers will too.
A lot of people like getting phones on 2 year plans and not fork out 500$ to buy the phone outright, there is so much flexibility with 2 year plans now a days it's insane.
Most people won't even think of buying a phone directly from Blackberry or are scared to use an unlocked phone. Especially since there are so many LTE frequency bands in the states, you could get screwed.
Blackberry's consumer support is terrible, you need to pay $50 to even talk to someone about a defective phone, obviously they can't hide behind the carrier (T-Mobile) anymore with those customers for issues like they have been in the past. Will they improve their customer support just for this dumb decision?

I don't think it's a bad move by Blackberry. What do they really have to lose at this point anyway? TMO has pretty much stopped supporting BB anyway ... until there is unrest, and Legere puts on a game to look like a hero. Chen has said time and again he wants the Enterprise end to snowball. Business and gov't do make up a big part of Tmobile. The near future will be interesting to watch.

I think people will swap their Blackberry's before T-Mobile enterprise snowballs. No one wants the hassle to change their carrier, that is a ton of work. Might as well just hand their employees samsungs and iphones and be done with it.

How will this work for BES10 customers?
Not sure if it's harder to change carriers or change enterprise services. Maybe someone can chime in on that. :P

Hopefully verizon and At&T pick up on this fast and try to recruit all BES10/BES5 and BB10 consumers over for an amazing deal,

Blackberry/OtherCarrier incentives to switch could be one way? Everybody is looking at this too personal, from an individual user perspective. I'm sure TMO cares about John in Florida who can't get his voicemail, but when an account manager looking after 15,000 lines say jump - TMO jumps fast and puts a team on it!! I work for a company contracted by TMO - I've been on the other end of that "holy fk, drop everything you're doing and get on this account NOW!!!" email we receive. I'm sure other carriers have the same policies/teams in place to move lines just like we do.
We get email every day to either send off thousands of lines, or receive them. All the work involved is performed by carriers when it comes to big accounts. Nobody has their IT guy walk into a store and switch over 10,000 lines. Yes, it's going to be a bit of a pain for the individual user, but I think Chen is looking at the broader scope of subscribers here.

doesn't exactly answer my question on whether it's easier to switch from BES10 to Good vs T-Mobile to AT&T for enterprise (businesses). Everyone knows the IT department doesn't walk into the store. Every carrier will "jump" at 15,000 lines.

I've tried to search on google but it's a hard search to find.

EDIT: someone else answered my question, he said it is easier to change carriers then change your phone for business customers since the other carriers will do all the work.

T-Mobile wants their customers to swap their Blackberries and that is what they have done quite successfully. The few Blackberry customers left will probably stay with Blackberry and move on. I really feel that Blackberry needs to build a new model where they bundle the handsets outright on enterprise sales. Focus on direct sales of unlocked phones. In developing countries, the carrier means nothing. We buy our phone outright, so that is not an issue here. It like buying a computer. I can go to any retailer and buy my phone or trade it in for a new one. It is unlocked and hassle free. I can go to any provider and get a SIM card pre or post paid. So, so easy. Why do carriers in the developed countries have so much power? Why can't they just be providers like Internet providers. I mean there is no tie between laptop and internet providers in there? Can you imagine if I could only buy my laptop at an internet carrier store? This is why sub $200 smartphones are so important over here as there are no contracts. I really think the Z3 has a chance to be quite successful.

Im not sure about canada but in the US it is only illegal to get someone other than the carrier to unlock it. I had Tmobile unlock the phone I used before the Z10 ( which came unlocked from shopbalckberry)

And as much as people want to believe that carrier subsidies are going to stay, I think that a lot of INDIVIDUAL consumers are moving to unlocked phones because it allows you to get the best plan available. If I can own my phone for 200 bucks, and find a carrier that beats my current plan ( talk unlimited texts and 5G of 4G/LTE data for 30 bucks) then I can switch.

Tmobile has done some bad ( the trade in) but they have done a lot of things the other GSM carrier (AT&T) have not or will not. They beat AT&T with 10.2.1 allowing for wifi calling and are the first carrier to really support BYOD. For example you can buy a T-mobile branded lumia 925 for less than 200 bucks, use the service for 60 days/ 50 bucks in refils then they will unlock it and you can consider AT&T or some other MNVO. if you travel internationally the option of using wifi calling or simply buying a regional sim is WAY easier than on AT&T.

And as others have pointed out, the inability to renew a relationship with a company that had already stopped selling BB handsets and incentivized its current BB clientele to switch, I'm not sure that this is something to cry over.

It's not, i'm thinking out of this forum world. Especially a family who has been with T-Mobile all their life. They aren't just going to switch to a new carrier because of blackberry. They are going just going to move on device wise.

While yes, these crackberrians, N4BB, BlackberryOS and etc people will move to a different carrier because we are the loyal Blackberry base.

Exactly. Although, how much more of a bruising can BB take at the hands of TMO. I wonder if we will ever get the actual numbers of how many people actually left their BB devices behind when TMO ran that special 'apology' promotion last month?

don't you think this will make it worse. That's what happened when blackberry were "partners" with T-Mobile, now they are competition.

I don't know how many people that are using Blackberrys on T-Mobile and hopefully just crackberrians that will switch carriers instead of normal consumers that will just switch phones if they can't find a better plan anywhere else.

Imagine being locked on a 2-year plan and T-Mobile is no longer partners with Blackberry anymore, what happens to those people?

Look at AT&T they don't even have 10.2.1 yet, in ways T-Mobile is more behind blackberry then competition with the WIFI calling. Sure they all say they have Blackberry's back but do they really? Legere might be a dick but at least he was real about it.

I think Blackberry is slowly going to abandon all US carriers except may be Verizon. The problem here is that Blackberry needs to change its image and carriers are not helping, in fact they are tarnishing Blackberry brand. This is all part of focus on enterprise strategy.

If money is no object, you are right it is easy. But i can almost guarantee you will pay more with AT&T and CAN guarantee that you will with Verizon. in the latter case my guess is that you will pay substantially more for the similar terms but likely better service.

I have no loyalty to a specific handset maker or carrier ( although the Z10 is the best phone i've owned, by far). Tmobile's lack of carrier subsidies means that if a better deal comes up, I can jump. If I can own another 4G LTE phone with expandible storage and some other nice specs/bells and whistles that works on Tmobile, I'd consider it ( provided it was not expensive to own outright)

When I bought my phone, I pretty much knew it was an EOL type of deal and as long as T-mobile doesnt blacklist blackberry handsets ( which would cost them more than supporting them) I'm fine with that.

Agreed this is stupid your stock is on life support and it takes you a lot longer to introduce new devices than the other companies so you get mad and pull your licensing agreement. First you screw PlayBook buyers now you screw with licensing agreements in North America. Wow this reads like someone is in charge who got a business degree from an online college.

It is for me; on a good day I get 2 bars, usually one, at home on my cellular signal. WiFi Calling makes my Z10 functional. And just a week ago, T-Mobile doubled my data plan from 500Mb/month to 1Gb/month at no additional charge; other than very slow OS updates I'm happy with them.

So now I'm wondering if T-Mo will bother to update WiFil Calling when future OS releases ship. Chen's move harms me and I have yet to see a satisfactory explanation for doing this to me.

T-mobile doesn't do contracts any more you pay your phone off in installments. I got the Z10 from them and their Unlimited $70 plan, my bill was over $100 every month. Now if you want a low end or mid range device then they have good pricing, but if you want a high end device it's not worth it. You'll be paying $35 extra per month before taxes.

Even with the installment plan it's usually less than what you would pay at verizon, difference is you can pay off your phone at tmobile any time and your bill go down but with verizon your bill will never go down even after the contract ends.

Actually their service is pretty Damn awesome for the price. I'd be paying three times as much on any other carrier for the data I get. Granted I'm on an old plan and the new plans are of worse value but I'm happy. This news however is worrying. Does this mean WiFi calling will never work well? On second though when did I ever actually need it...

I also switched from TMOBILE to Verizon just a tick over a year ago... the day the Z10 was released as a matter of fact. Tmobile has awful data service and was charging me a little bit more than the new Verizon plan was going to cost so bye bye tmobile. they tried to hit me with two early term fees but service in south/central Minnesota is so bad for them I got my attorney to send them a letter threatening to go to court. They dropped the ETF within a month. What a bunch of clowns.

"BlackBerry customers on the T-Mobile network should not see any difference in their service or support."

I have grandfathered BB plans with TM.
What the coming BB/TM license change means is that I will continue to have my plan. When I want to purchase new BB phones I will simply buy from Shop BB direct as un-locked phones. This is not a bad deal. I paid TM about $530 for my Z10 when the product came out. Now I can buy the phone from Shop BB for $299.
My case, paying in full, will work. Unfortunately, those who want extended payment plans will be shut out.

I received the following as part of an Email from BB to TM's BB customers (2Apr2014)

"BlackBerry is working closely with other carriers to provide you with alternatives should you decide to remain with BlackBerry for your long-term device and service needs. We encourage you to visit these carriers for current offers on the latest BlackBerry devices.

Also, for a limited time, you can enjoy $100 off a BlackBerry smartphone at shopblackberry.com when entering promotion code BLACKBERRY1.* "

"*Offer expires May 31, 2014. Valid in U.S. only. Coupon only valid towards the purchase of a BlackBerry Q5, Q10 or Z10 smartphone. Quantities are limited. Limit one coupon per customer and two smartphones per customer. Offer subject to change without notice. No cash value, void where prohibited or restricted by law."

This means, from Shop BB, if you want a Z10 @299 your cost will be $199.

Omg stop already. Who cares about wifi calling if your on an unlimited plan anyway? Most tmo users are on unlimited plans and I doubt there are many current BlackBerry users who aren't. I'm currently using an unlocked Z30 for my tmo plan. No problems. Hey, what are you to do when the company takes your product off of the shelves? I'm sure they have a plan and strategy to ensure current consumers and enterprise users suffice services moving fwd. One thing we can say, John Chen is no punk and he's definitely not scared to make some bold moves. I like it

I thought crackberry users are intelligent. Maybe I should lower my expectations. Every business has a landline. Even the customer service you dial from your phone is to a landline. Unless you're age 7, then I wouldn't expect you to know.

Well that's subject to where you are. It's not a deal breaker is my point. F that. Use bbm calling then and stop crying about wifi calling. All this time we haven't had it and it just came. So what did everyone do before then??? That's what in saying

Who's crying? Raino mentioned a fact and a consideration and Premium1 answered your rhetorical question about "who cares" in a literal way addressing something that is a legitimate issue for some folks.

Am I the only the saw in the article that john chen specifically said this should not affect services and support? Everyone is loosing they're mind about something that hasn't come to fruition. We haven't had wifi calling since my bold 8900 yes ago. The 9780 nor the 9900 had wifi calling. I've moved on to the z10 and now an unlocked z30 and still no wifi calling. I don't have those spotty services most are referring to, so if wifi calling is your holy grail and we've been deprived of it this long, why are you still with tmo??? That's what im saying. Just switch or stop crying about something that hasn't been available in yrs.

And I'm speaking on personal experience. So I'm not sure what facts I need to be straight about? BlackBerry has said they will continue to work closely with tmo in providing services and support for current users and also will not affect services. Take that how you want but if in the event that wifi calling is no longer supported and if you have it now, then it's wise to stick with you current os build and explore bbm calling moving fwd. Which is another reason why enterprise bbm is also an angle BlackBerry is taking. If that won't suffice, there's not much else you can do but switch carriers or God forbid, devices.

And I'm telling you I haven't had it. It's been a demand for some time to finally get it. I'm an avid user that installs almost every leak and even other official os's because tmo does maybe one a year. I haven't seen wifi for my device is yrs. If you have it, great. Stay on your current build then. Problem solved. Like they stated "it will not affect services and support". It gets no more black and white than that. If it does, then do what you have to do.

Why do you talk like BlackBerry is the only phone on the planet? I don't know about how previous gens of BlackBerry work as far as WFC goes, but I've been using it as long as the first Android phone had it. Tmo is the only carrier that allows me to keep my own number when calling from another country. Besides, Chen's statement only assures you if you have WFC now on 10.2.1, that will continue to work, but it won't have future updates with WFC Built in.

BBM only works when calling another BBM user. WiFi allows me to make and receive calls to/from my customers, you can't do that with BBM. WiFi is critical for me when I am in buildings in which cell signals do not penetrate.

People have a lot to worry about. Chen has put BlackBerry users in a bad spot. I switched over to TMO due to verizon raping me on charges. Moving from two to three smart phones on Verizon, without unlimited data or unlimited calling, was going to cost me $60US more than TMO. On TMO I have unlimited everything, for a hell of a lot less.

Over ten years with Verizon and I realized they are just a bug bully. They charge extremely high rates, but really give nothing in return. Heading over seas they wanted to charge me additional fees for international calling and the air time on top of it. I can't simply put a Verizon phone on another carriers network, cause it's not compatible. If I have to move from TMO it would likely be to AT&T, but they are even worse on updates.

Exactly. It was a contributing factor when I chose T-Mobile. I rely on it at my residence, which is outside their coverage area. No matter, if the next update doesn't come, or doesn't have it, I'll just switch carriers. Sure wish that fully-AT&T-compatible Z30 could be purchased at shop BlackBerry . Is it available anywhere?

When your network doesn't have coverage in most places where you travel, Wifi calling is more important. My Z30 isn't supported anyhow, and with the loss of discounts, I'm out as soon as I'm ready to buy a new phone. Probably Verizon...

And that's what in saying. I agree with Doolittle2. Simple as that. It's a business. Nothing lasts forever and changes are made. We've dealt with so much as BlackBerry users, in my opinion wifi calling is the least of my concerns at this point. I'm just hoping they get through this rough stretch and survive. Continue making high end devices and advancing BB10. If you don't like your service) referring to call quality) then you just have to switch when you can. Instead of looking in the sky for wifi calling like we've been praying for all these prior yrs. Smh jeez

BBM Voice requires the person you want to call to have BBM. This along eliminates any direct business calls and limits calls to only cell phones with BBM. It also doesn't help if someone is calling you.

BBM Voice is great, but it is not the same as carrier supported WiFi calling.

Hey fams although similar there is plenty difference between wi-fi calling and BBM voice? With wi-fi calling you can call out and receive calls "WITH YOUR OWN PHONE NUMBER" using wi-fi.

This is excellent for traveling to places with no carrier coverage and you can still be reached via your phone number. Trust me it's super convenient and it works well, (got me through some tough times).

BBM voice has to be used with others using BBM. Now I can see BBM voice getting to where wi-fi calling is now but that might take a little time.

In time most people will have BBM voice (I hope because that's what I mostly use now) but it's reach just isn't the same at the moment.

Happy that the service will still be supported although I have transitioned to BBM voice and I am happy with how the service performs (still have to use wi-fi calling sometimes)

Tmobile has such crap service that when you are in a house or building with wifi but no cellular signal (which on tmobile is pretty common cuz it's service is a joke) then you have full services: calling, sms, ect. With the other carriers being on wifi will only get you data... no calling, no text. Tmobile had it, not because it somehow saves you money on your plan, but because their network is bad and they needed a cheap, easy patchwork. need something like that for verizon or att then you have to get a network extender. Not a cheap piece of hardware mind you (I have one because I seem to live in the only place in souther Minnesota that Verizon doesn't have incredible coverage in)

Your statement is a half truth the wifi calling makes up for the coverage gaps. So some people will be affected more than others, me personally I have unlimited on Tmobile and have no issues in New York but I can not say the same for every state. I didn't realize it until I took a trip out of my normal service area oh boy what a difference.

Google sells the Nexus phones on their site AND at carriers. Same with Google Play editions. I think BlackBerry absolutely needs to sell all phones unlocked at their store, but also have them at carriers for subsidized prices. A small minority pays full price for phones (and most US companies buy them in bulk through carrier subsidized deals and plans). If they pull out of all US carriers, they're finished in the US.

I'm definitely agree with you, particularly on the consumer side. But on the enterprise side it would be great if blackberry can find a way to offer up the handsets to corporate customers in a bundled service offering directly . Have blackberry take on the subsidy directly instead of having the carrier do it. Not sure how exactly.
But doing direct sales of unlocked phones to consumers will kill off the consumer business in the US I agree. But wait? Is it not already killed off? The plan to go after the consumer business in the developing world may not be a bad idea and focus only on business in the US?

Although Apple does indeed sell direct which is great for wholesalers and those who sell the latest iPhones on the black market to other countries, I don't see it benefiting BlackBerry in the same way. The reality (in North America) is that the majority of people who get new devices, get them through their carrier at $0-$299 for signing a new contract. Taking this away from T-Mobile is only going to yield fewer results.... logically. No emotion/bias or anything else. This is not a smart move...

Your kidding right?! Not too long ago, T-MOBILE released a report outright mocking BlackBerry with regard to how many customers they had converted to other platforms... BlackBerry does not need partners like that! Besides, the Z3 will sell direct from the BlackBerry online store for under $200 and everybody will be happy without the need for contracts!

BlackBerry 10 devices do not need carrier support as previous BBOS devices did.

I agree nabollocks...I can't believe I am reading all these post of lament that BB pulled the plug on a carrier that was constantly giving them the finger! Its like hearing that your wife is talking crap about how lousy you are to her girls then comes home and says honey...I LOVE YOU. WTF was BB to do....continue to look weak with T-Mo? We already have that with the carrier that has exclusive contract on the Z30...VZW!
It's time BB take a stand on a number of things and this is one of them. If you love T-Mo, you can still stay with them, just eventually you may want to consider an unlocked device and giving yourself the flexibility. Either way it goes...T-Mo had to go! BB needs to stop being everyone's doormat...good job Chen!

Honestly I an extremely happy and loving john Chen right now....t-mobile was sneaky sending blackberry customers to change to iPhone and did the deal and mouth of users taking advance of the deal to trade their blackberry guaranteed was influenced by sales reps to get an iPhone or Android device. I despise their CEO he is a arrogant and stupid guy that truly irritates me...john Chen is aggressive and saying if you can't support us during our tough times then forget you we don't need you at all we got this in our hands and will come back strong.....im tired of hearing the bad about blackberry and thrashing us and John Chen is making sure in interviews and public he is talking and Re assuring customers we are to stay and we ain't going anywhere

Love him or hate him, the results are what counts and Mr. Legere has been delivering. This split is really sad because there isn't a single carrier that can give me all of the T-Mobile features at the same price. Not sure who to blame, but it seems that Chen is accepting responsibility. Either way, this is going to hurt me personally.

What T-Mobile has been delivering? Really. These guys have been on the chopping block for over a year and the only interested party has been Japanese Vulture capital trying to get pennies on the dollar. It's laughable. Their business model died and everyone knows it.

What does t-mobile deliver :
1. Only carrier to have HD Voice. And it works amazingly.
2. Only carrier to offer wifi calling, super useful when calling clients from overseas.
3. Only carrier the plans allow you to tether without recurring additional fees.
4. Only GSM carrier with affordable price in the US.
5. Only carrier with unlimited data, even if it throttles, it's still unlimited. And no I'm not a couch potato who "need" to watch Netflix on a phone like some people.

And also free international roaming data and texting included plus $.20 cents a minute calling. In my area tmobile has good signal it doesn't make sense to switch carriers and pay more for less just because a certain brand is not sold there.

TZrick, I agree with ya. Tmobile with blackberry has been the best for me. Best prices and best customer service! And wifi calling is an absolute plus for me as I go overseas several times a year. Wifi calling from Serbia to USA is crystal clear, no hassle calling. Minutes come out of my regular bucket. People can call me in Serbia from USA using my regular number as if I were still in the USA. Tis a sad day indeed. I hope in the future that BB and TMo kiss and make up.

Since there is no partnership, just watch there will be a bigger promotion then last time to cash in your Blackberry's except now with BBOS and BB10 devices. They can now actively say switch from Blackberry to another phone since now they are competition. Before we all knew what they meant but they couldn't say it but now they can full out say "Blackberry Sucks trade them in" in their articles.

"United States antitrust law is a collection of federal and state government laws, which regulates the conduct and organization of business corporations, generally to promote fair competition for the benefit of consumers."

mhmm so you think Blackberry is going to try to take them to court? Blackberry doesn't really have the money to go to court.
T-Mobile can try to drag it on forever since they know Blackberry doesn't have the money to spend on court.

Well, YOU read BlackBerry's, which can easily be viewed as a face saving move. TMO displayed no motivation to sell BlackBerry devices, and in return BlackBerry won't allow them to sell BlackBerry devices. Who really got dumped here? You can divorce the mate that abandoned you and started dating your prettier air-headed cousin months ago without telling you but sorry buddy, YOU got dumped! Or fire the employee that abandoned his job months ago - YOU got dumped. This was a necessary tying up of loose ends, but no great strategic move on the part of BlackBerry. Time will tell who benefits from this.

I don't see any way that WiFi calling will work moving forward. TMobile's update hang up has always been WiFi calling so unless the OS update somehow manages not to break that functionality to start with, I can't see TMobile putting any work into fixing WiFi calling for subsequent updates.

Hear, hear. I picked my Z30 up from a friendly CBer north of the border and have had no issues with it on T-Mobile outside of the lack of WiFi calling. I don't really miss that feature, though, since my wife's experience with it (Z10 on TMobile) hasn't been that great to start with. I actually got the update to 10.2.1 earlier than the rest of the TMobile crew because mine is factory unlocked. I suspect that moving forward, purchasing from Shop BlackBerry will result in a similar experience; voice/data functionality works as anticipated, earlier upgrades, no WiFi calling.

Wifi calling, while I don't have it seems like a great feature. I use BBM Voice where I can and I love the freedom of going anywhere in my house while on a call. I get little reception in my basement so BBM Voice is great for that.

BlackBerry severing ties with T-Mobile doesn't matter much; as was pointed out elsewhere, T-Mobile is the smallest of the major carriers. As T-Mobile is GSM and making an effort to be open, it's easy for any BlackBerry enthusiast who wishes to be on T-Mobile to buy an unlocked handset and bring it to T-Mobile for service. BB has a better relationship with the other carriers, particularly Verizon. Chen's not going to break up with Verizon or AT&T. Probably not Sprint, either. I can see Sprint carrying the Classic.

Given that Verizon was the only carrier to agree to sell the Z30; the carrier's consistent refusal to push OS updates on a timely basis; their lack of support during the BB10 launch; the removal of BlackBerry display devices at carrier outlets... I don't think its baseless at all.

I mean, the carriers have done everything but put full page ads in the New York Times saying "we don't care to deal with BlackBerry any longer".

Excellent news. Time to stop allowing carriers creating further damage to the Brand. Hope that BlackBerry finds a way to now push updates directly to remaining existing customers there and alternatively offer incentives on rival carriers for those customers to make the switch

It looks like this has more to do with BlackBerry and T-Mobile not reaching some agreement. Also remember T-Mobile recently posted an ad calling for BlackBerry owners to trade in their phones for new ios devices. This is just BlackBerry's way of telling T-Mobile to go fuck off.

Aren't they already doing that for the most part - ignoring the USA consumer? 3 of the 4 majors don't even carry the flagship and the 1 that does - doesn't have it in most of the stores you have to order it

And BlackBerry could do no wrong, eh? Keep in mind they had launch delays, abhorrent marketing, no incentives for sales reps, technical issues, a weak app catalog, high return rates, etc. It's a two way street.

This is a BlackBerry decision after a TMO stance. This didn't happen in a vacuum. Let's not kid ourselves. If TMO had chosen to align its strategy with BlackBerry's strategy, we'd be singing a different tune.

So you think Mr. Chen should stay with a carrier that clearly targets and demotes the BlackBerry brand? It was only going to get worse I'm sure. Yes, it's a gusty move that has a chance of back firing, but I believe it was a good move never the less.

Mute function works perfectly. In fact, os 10.2.1 for me (on Verizon) has been the most stable operating system I've ever owned on any phone with the exception perhaps of my first blackberry... a 7100i on Nextel. otherwise this is the best OS ever. Ever a problem with any phone function.

this isnt a move to pull of the us this ia a move to reduce carriers and use carriers that actually support blackberry. In a way its a good thing. This way they can actually work with specific carriers and give them better support. If a carrier feels inclined to work against the best interests of the company supporting it would it not be beneficial to end that relationship? Thats what they are doing currently. The only unfortunate customers are the one ones that bought their blackberry from tmobile and will either continue on without much support or have to move to a new carrier. This marks the beginning of using carriers that will support the brand and work with Blackberry and not against them.

AT&T soon to follow and then the only carrier left will be Verizon. Just a waiting on that news since they have tried so hard to bastardize blackberry and so far have been successful in doing so. Given the fiasco with t-mobile and their blackberry offering and topping it off with stating that the majority of trade ins moved off the Blackberry platform was and should have been the mail in the coffin. The larger question is: given the state of blackberry, who does it hurt?

Losing one of only four major carriers is horrible for BlackBerry. They need all the support they can get. Regardless of the BS that T-Mobile has said, their BlackBerry customers still want BlackBerry devices. If they ever want to get back into T-Mobile... Well good luck.

That's what I'm thinking too--Chen didn't want to give TMO the opportunity to spin it their way. As to what Legere will say, it'll sure be interesting, but he should concentrate on the employee discount termination onslaught he's going to face.

Hopefully this may cause AT&T to wake up and decide to release some updates. I would think BB would want to have at least one GSM carrier in the USA. Hopefully they don't put all their eggs in one Verizon basket and have that as the only U.S. carrier. I would like to see this move as the first step in having all BB phones and updates available direct from BB

It's sad. These are two companies I have heavily supported for more than a decade. Now that they can't get along, I will have to choose. My law firm has dozens of lines with T-Mobile service and Blackberry phones. I guess moving forward we will have to decide whether to drop Blackberry or T-Mobile. I'm not sure how that will play out.

Yeah, that's not good, because at every firm there are always a few who push to be able to use non-BlackBerry devices. BES10 and Secure Work Space has resulted in the entry of other platforms in firms that were once exclusively BlackBerry.

Don't worry the other carriers will step in and make the process of switching seamless. The other carriers will want enterprises to stay with BlackBerry just to get them to switch over. Then once they have all T-Mobiles old contracts they won't care what phone they use.

Bold move! T-Mobile tried to pull people away from their Blackberrys now BlackBerry has found a way for dedicated BlackBerry users to leave T-Mobile! Now BlackBerry needs to offer a $20 plan to damage all of the biased carriers. Buy a phone and plan directly from BlackBerry, I am on board with that!

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